Candy Evans: Adios 2024. Let’s Thrive in 2025

Happy New Year! Last year is a wrap. If you think 2024 was full of change, you haven’t seen anything yet. Buckle your seat belt and grab a hard hat because we will thrive in ’25, but it’s going to go fast! If only interest rates would go on a New Years Diet plan…

Dare We Dream for 6.80%? (At Least It’s Not 18%)

The Dallas-Fort Worth real estate market seemed to open up the day after the election, agents tell me. Buyers came out of the woodwork, and sellers felt a bit more inclined to sell. Despite three Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2024, we are going into 2025 with 7% interest rates (highest in seven years) and many are not happy. Don’t get your hopes up for any drop-your-nail file declines in 2025 — 6.80 percent may be as good as it gets.

You can argue rates are still lower than the sky-high levels of the early 1980s, when rates were 18%. It was a time of worldwide financial real estate fiascos I hope we never see again. I remember we were hunting for our very first home. Back then, first time home prices were just $40,000, property taxes were lower, insurance was normal, and all that interest was 100% deductible. Today’s environment is far more challenging.

Oh, and did you know monthly HOA fees now are rising faster than inflation?

Boomers, Downsizing, and Slim Pickings

We’ve made the decision to be “good Boomers” and put our beloved family home of 25 years on the market this spring. According to Redfin, more than a third of US homes are owned and occupied by Boomers who refuse to budge. We’re joining the hunt for something smaller and hopefully a smaller tax bite. But it’s pretty slim pickings. Home prices finished the year up a nudge. Still 33% percent more homes hit the market this week, the 52nd week of the year, as opposed to last year with more sellers coming on every year.

Get ready for lots of whine: I am the worst real estate client in the world — confirmed by Dave Perry-Miller who put up with me for four years while selling our last home 28 years ago.

I’m an even worse buyer: a compulsive, picky, critical consumer with a discriminating eye and whose exacting nature can lead to questions like, “Why is that baseboard not aligned?” I care for my home like I do my family, and expect others to do the same.

Shameless Plug: Fmls/4/5.5 baths/2 offices/pool/spa/saferm/wine/

Who’s looking for 7,000 custom-built square feet on a wooded acre (with 20 trees!) in Preston Hollow? We’re talking pool, spa, wine room, safe room, media room, and a screened, heated porch that connects to the side dog run with secondary porch, plus pet and human shower. The three car garage is oversized. The neighborhood A++++.

We are looking everywhere in Dallas — smaller lot and lower property taxes the goal — and also eyeing parts northward in Fields Frisco and other areas of real-time growth. Hey, even Margaritaville looks tempting, but only if a margarita machine is built into every home. Nostalgic: our current home has the commercial outlets for them.

Where Are the Boomers Going (and When Are They Moving??)

Maybe Boomers are staying put in their homes because there is nothing out there for them? I’m seeing a huge marketplace void of homes for people like us — tired of big, too active for tiny. Give me 4,500 square feet with enough bedrooms upstairs to accommodate guests. Less land, but enough space for a small pool, turf for dogs, and plentiful storage throughout. A quarter- to a third-acre would be ideal.

And can we please bring back Jack-and-Jill bathrooms? Bedrooms have been getting larger in the past 30 years with en suite baths and walk-in closets for all. How about four bedrooms, two connecting baths, and a den upstairs?

What I’m seeing and will be whining about: thimble-sized laundry rooms in $2.7 million homes, and one coat closet. One home had so many random steps my husband nicknamed it the “Step Aerobics House.” At this point, maybe I’ll become a developer.

Covering the Housing Crisis & Sitzer/Burnett

Keeping the CandysDirt.com staff on our toes virtually 24/7, housing remains the hottest topic not just in Dallas but across the country. In January 2024, more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness — the highest number since the federal government began counting in 2007. Homelessness increased by 18.1% in 2024. Meanwhile, housing costs continue to climb at a staggering pace, driven by rising land, materials, labor, and property taxes. Insurance, many say, may be the breaking point and is already affecting home prices in the Sunshine State. But inflation has contributed to making home ownership the most unaffordable it’s ever been in this country.

2024 was also the year of the infamous (ridiculous?) Sitzer-Burnett lawsuit over commissions. We expect more spillover and jolts from that continuing into 2025 as more agents seek NAR independence. By the way, did you take your prescribed Ethics Course?

From Tarrant County to Dallas, we’ve been covering it all, scooping our legacy colleagues thanks to the talented reporting of April Towery. Karen Eubank has led the charge on the most beautiful homes in DFW and the ongoing battle to preserve them — or not. We are blessed with a wonderful, experienced team like executive editor Shelby Skrhak and writers Elaine Raffel, Daniel Lalley, and Brenda Masse on social media. Mimi Perez is the one you see snapping pics at CandysDirt.com parties and Joy Brandon covers Fort Worth and the Mid-Cities. Charles Grand has joined us on the commercial real estate beat — send him your tips! — and we continue to widen our reach north, of course, but also east, west, and now south. Have you checked out Waxahachie lately?

Fun fact, Joy was just elected as a Bedford city councilwoman — at least SOMEONE around here wins city council elections!

Pepper Square and ForwardDallas

As housing grows increasingly unaffordable, a political movement is brewing to change zoning laws and other City rules originally crafted to protect single-family homes. While these are “good-intentioned” ideas intended to address affordability, they won’t. They risk undermining solid neighborhoods and pushing buyers towards the burbs. Losing taxpayers is not good for cities like Dallas.

This tension played out all across Dallas. But in “far” North Dallas this spring, homeowners seemed to be jolted from their Mahjong parties. A controversial plan to rezone Pepper Square shopping center for a multi-family housing component that would add significantly more new apartments in 2025 evoked fierce backlash from neighborhoods. The fury forced a Dallas city councilwoman to not only halt public meetings — but also decide against running for re-election.

The passage of ForwardDallas this fall was equally divisive. While intended to “modernize city planning,” it left many homeowners feeling unprotected. And angry. We attended meetings across the city and they were packed, chock full of concerned property owners called NIMBYs by those with “special interests.” To show you how united the neighborhoods of Dallas were, in September, I moderated a panel discussion next to veteran Dallas journalist Jim Schutze for 250 attendees — Jim was thumbs down to FD. We had panelists from east, west, south and north all united against the sloppiness of this plan.

Dallas Cothrum, president of Masterplan, a Milrose company, summed it up perfectly:

“A new ForwardDallas will not make council members more likely to follow planning policy over the will of their voters. The council approved ForwardDallas on Sept. 25 by a vote of 11-4. It’s a mediocre plan crafted with insufficient resources that will make negligible impact. In other words, it’s right on brand.”

I disagree. I think most Dallas city council members are more interested in pursuing personal agendas than reflecting the will of their voters. As the year closed, more eyes were watching 1500 Marilla as the City chooses a new manager. Whoever paid attention to the City Plan Commission? Active citizens are asking why the Commission retains planners on expired terms. With the passage of controversial city charter amendments in November, brace for city-wide elections this May. We have lined up daily B-12 injections, the newest to-do activity at listing parties.

Counting Our DFW Blessings, but Some Are Blessed More…

Last night, I listened to a podcast detailing the ten worst cities in America. So grim. Fact: We are so lucky to live in Dallas, Fort Worth, and this great metro area. We have it so good compared to those 10 and many more places, but staying vigilant is key to keeping it that way. While the metro areas around it are flourishing, the city of Dallas is shrinking. Maybe we need to take a few lessons from our neighbor, Fort Worth, the fastest growing city in America. The city is projected to eclipse one million in population by 2030 and surpass Dallas by 2045.

Oops! Amon Carter: “Dallas is where the East peters out; Fort Worth is where the West begins.”

Dallas Dirt is Calling

By now you know we have a podcast that digs even deeper into the stories you’ll find on CandysDirt.com with exciting interviews by newsmakers who run this town. More movers and shakers are lined up to go live in 2025.

At CandysDirt.com, we champion single-family homeownership and deliver every piece of news that impacts your most precious investment. We’re committed to doing even more in 2025 to help you thrive!

[email protected], @DallasDirtCandy, Instagram: CandysDirt